One of the key figures in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry was caught up in suspicions of having an affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy.
According to a New York Times report, U.S. intelligence officials believe that Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman who had a close relationship with Nvidia's CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang, is a spy for the Chinese government.
As the controversy erupted, CEO Jensen Huang admitted that he had been "unfaithful" to his wife and apologized for hurting his family.
NVIDIA, a major American technology conglomerate and one of the most valuable companies in the world, has launched its own investigation into the affair.
However, NVIDIA added that there appears to be no circumstances showing that U.S. national security has been compromised, and that CEO Hwang has a firm determination to continue leading the company.
We looked at what is known so far regarding this affair incident and why this incident is important.
Who is Alice Huang, and what is known about the case?
image copyrightAFP
According to a New York Times report, U.S. intelligence officials believe that Alice Huang was recruited as a spy by China's top intelligence agency. Currently, the woman's whereabouts are unknown.
Alice Huang, who is not related by blood or relative to CEO Hwang, served as a top executive at Megaspeed, a data center company headquartered in Singapore, from March to November 2023.
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Megaspeed has been suspected of being involved in secretly leaking Nvidia semiconductors to China. However, NVIDIA's position is that a related investigation has already been conducted and it has been found to be untrue.
However, Megaspeed is currently under investigation by the Singapore government in relation to past allegations that it circumvented U.S. sanctions on Nvidia's exports of advanced semiconductors.
The BBC asked Megaspeed for comment.
In an interview with the New York Times last month, Megaspeed explained that the current management is seriously aware of these allegations and has appointed an external legal advisor to conduct its own investigation.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the communication details between Alice Hwang and an American citizen were captured during surveillance by intelligence authorities. Later, through an identity disclosure process known as “unmasking,” it was revealed that the American in question was CEO Jensen Huang.
It is still unclear what information this woman, also known as 'Huang Le', collected and passed on to China, or whether she actually collected the information. Alice Huang did not respond to a request for comment from The New York Times.
When the BBC asked whether it was aware of these information concerns, Nvidia responded that it was not aware of them.
“If we had indeed been the target of a threat, we believe the US government would have informed us,” an Nvidia spokesperson explained to the BBC.
Meanwhile, China denied the spying allegations.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiaqun refuted at a press conference, "The so-called Chinese spy claim is completely unfounded and is nothing more than speculation. It is intended to slander and disparage China."
At the end of October this year, the New York Times reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had already received a report from intelligence officials last year that Alice Huang was engaged in spying for China.
On the 8th, when reporters asked, "Do you think it would have been better if we had taken action based on the information reported at the time?" President Trump responded, "No, I don't think so. (CEO Hwang) is a great person."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to answer questions about CEO Hwang. Secretary Rubio reportedly ordered the writing of a memo this spring warning the Trump administration about CEO Hwang's relationship with the Chinese businesswoman.
Why is this case important?
Since NVIDIA is a company at the core of the competition for AI supremacy between the United States and China, the billionaire's affair scandal has spread to U.S. lawmakers' concerns about national security.
Previously, President Trump emphasized that "the one who wins in AI is the ultimate winner," and there are concerns that if China becomes ahead in the AI field, its military and surveillance capabilities could be greatly strengthened.
The competitive advantage that the United States currently enjoys in this field is partly due to the fact that American companies such as NVIDIA work closely with semiconductor manufacturers such as Taiwan's TSMC, which produces more than 90% of the world's cutting-edge semiconductors.
Since 2022, the United States has been preventing cutting-edge technology products from flowing into China through various export control measures. It is argued that through this, we can maintain our current competitive advantage and protect national security.
And that means companies like Nvidia have virtually no presence in China, the world's most profitable market. CEO Hwang once said that NVIDIA's market share in China had fallen from about 95% to virtually 0%.
Accordingly, CEO Hwang has been seeking ways to re-enter the Chinese market with approval from the U.S. government. To this end, it has worked on shuttle diplomacy between the United States and China, and in the process has also exerted influence on the formation of U.S. policy toward China.
Through new facts revealed on the 8th, we can guess why CEO Hwang was ultimately unable to obtain permission from the Trump administration to sell all semiconductors except cutting-edge semiconductors to China, which was the biggest gift to Nvidia.
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Who is Jensen Huang?
image copyrightBloomberg via Getty Images
Born in Taiwan in 1963, Jensen Huang moved to the West Coast of the United States with his family when he was nine years old. After earning a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University, he majored in a master's degree in the same field at Stanford University.
Afterwards, he worked at the American semiconductor company AMD and then co-founded Nvidia.
CEO Huang, known as 'Daddy Huang' in Taiwan and once praised as the 'Taylor Swift of technology', is also well known as a workaholic who demands extremely high levels of performance from his employees.
According to the 'Bloomberg Billionaires Index', his estimated net worth is $155 billion (about 206 trillion won).
Stephen Witt, who wrote a biography about him, 'NVIDIA Jensen Hwang, a Thinking Machine,' said in an interview with the BBC, "CEO Hwang is a technology pioneer on par with Steve Jobs," and explained that he is the person who created the AI hardware we know today.
Meanwhile, CEO Hwang is also famous for being exceptionally close to President Trump. At the recent AI summit held at the White House, 42 technology industry executives attended, and those standing next to President Trump were Elon Musk and CEO Hwang.
President Trump told reporters that he spoke directly with CEO Hwang on the 9th and asked, "Did you think that woman was a spy?"
He added, “He said, ‘I had no idea you were a spy.’ I truly believe what he said.”
What investigation is currently underway?
NVIDIA filed a lawsuit with New York law firm Wachelle, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (WLRK) was appointed to launch an independent investigation into this incident. Attorney Jun Kim, a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, will lead the investigation.
According to President Trump on the 9th, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also investigating this case. However, the FBI did not respond to the BBC's request for further comment.
Additionally, CEO Hwang reportedly received a request to attend a private briefing jointly held by several committees of the U.S. Congress on the 18th.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee requested an explanation of Nvidia's security procedures related to its interactions with Alice Hwang and its spying activities.
A source familiar with the committee's request told the BBC that CEO Hwang has not yet announced his intention to attend.
What is NVIDIA and why is it important?
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Nvidia, co-founded in 1993 by CEO Hwang and fellow electrical engineers Chris Malakovsky and Curtis Prim, originally started out as a graphics company, especially graphics for computer games.
Then, it changed its business direction to the AI field, and is currently taking the lead in this industry.
CEO Hwang not only saved Nvidia from bankruptcy several times, but also boldly invested in AI faster than anyone else in the world, virtually building infrastructure from scratch.
In an interview with the BBC, Witt said Hwang had already been betting on AI at a time when "there was absolutely no demand for the technology he was trying to create."
And now, all major technology companies building AI tools and infrastructure, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, use NVIDIA semiconductors.
NVIDIA, which boasts a market capitalization of approximately $4 trillion, is also the most valuable company in the world.
Meanwhile, Nvidia's board of directors said in a statement on the 8th that it "trusts CEO Hwang and the management," and appears to have no intention of dismissing him at this time.
Sources also said that because the BBC has such a huge financial interest, the possibility of dismissal is low.
The management succession plan for CEO Hwang, who is currently 63 years old, has not yet been disclosed. He has often said he would like to continue in this position for decades to come. According to a Bloomberg report, unlike the traditional corporate vertical command structure, he has built an informal management system centered around himself.
CEO Hwang's children Spencer and Madison, and son-in-law Nico Caprez, all hold high positions at Nvidia.
Who is Jensen Huang's wife?
CEO Hwang first met Laurie Mills, a former lab colleague, while studying electrical engineering at Oregon State University in the early 1980s.
The two married in 1985, about eight years before he co-founded Nvidia, and had two children.
In 2007, the couple established the Jensen and Laurie Huang Foundation. The foundation's funds have grown rapidly in recent years thanks to the surge in Nvidia's stock price, and are currently estimated to exceed $9 billion.
Based on this, it has carried out various activities, including donating tens of millions of dollars to engineering research at Oregon State University and Stanford University.
In an interview with the BBC, Witt said Hwang had worked hard to build his "family man" image, adding, "That's very important to him."
“He always praised his wife in public and never hid his expressions of affection,” Witt added. “This situation would be traumatic for any family, but it would be an especially serious blow to someone who has worked so hard to build a family image and was very close to their children.”
Additional reporting: Tom MacArthur (London), Ayshe Ferrera and Tessa Wong (Singapore) and Helen Davidson (Sydney)
